The Conquest of Space

Influences on fiction

• Some of Bonestell's designs inspired the look of George Pal's 1955 science fiction movie Conquest of Space, which also takes its title from the book, but uses it as a framework on which to hang a melodramatic plot.
• Bonestell's illustrations of the Moon in The Conquest of Space were used by Hergé as a basis for his illustrations of the lunar surface in his 1952-53 The Adventures of Tintin comic, Explorers on the Moon.
• Arthur C. Clarke was also an admirer of The Conquest of Space; in his novel , Clarke refers to Saturn's moon Iapetus as "Japetus" due to that being the spelling used by Ley in The Conquest of Space.
• Larry Niven's 1967 short story "The Soft Weapon" is set on a planet around Beta Lyrae; Niven's description of Beta Lyrae is actually a meticulous retelling of the details of Bonestell's painting rather than any kind of portrayal of the Beta Lyrae system itself, which is now understood to look quite different.